As
described in many creation stories, life began
in vast deep waters. For thousands of years
even peoples who had never seen the ocean believed
that land had risen out of the water. Every
culture took a different view of the ocean,
however, some regarding it as hell and others
as a mother, a god, or life itself. And these
conceptions also varied over time. But what
was unchanging was the fascination the sea exerted
over human beings, providing food and life to
some, and carrying others off, never to be seen
again. The ocean symbolised the unfathomable
limits of human journeying, the unknown and
inaccessible. It has kept secrets even from
modern man who has crossed the empty depths
of space to reach the moon.

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FIRST THERE WERE THE WATERS

2002 / MARCH

The
knowledge acquired by science 4.6 billion years
after the earth formed is not so very different
from the myths and legends of previous ages.
In the primitive oceans of 3.5 billion years
ago, a reaction that took place between methane,
ammoniac, hydrogen and water vapour led to the
miraculous emergence of the first life forms,
and for the next 3 billion years single-celled
organisms ruled the world alone. Then a sudden
rise in oxygen levels in the atmosphere 570
million years ago led in just 5 million years
to what 3 billion years had not sufficed to
achieve before: the evolution of a multitude
of different life forms. The sea sent some of
its creatures onto land. Some species evolved
only to become extinct, leaving traces of their
existence imprinted in rock.

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FIRST THERE WERE THE WATERS

2002 / MARCH

These fossils preserved the story of their lives
for us to read millions of years later. Other
creatures stubbornly continued to survive, such
as the Brachiopods, which first evolved in the
Tertiary Period. Of the several Brachiopod species
still living today after millions of years, most
inhabit warm shallow seas, although some with
thicker shells are to be found in cold seas. The
majority of molluscs, which have been around since
the Palaeozoic Era, are well known to us by both
sight and flavour, such as the mussel (Mytilus),
the oyster (Ostrea), the octopus, and the squid
(Sepia). Another surviving type of mollusc which
made its home on land is the snail (Helix). Bivalve
molluscs with plate-like gills (Lamellibranchiata)
live in deep water. Then there are gastropods,
or univalve coiled molluscs, Cephalopodas with
tentacles, Ecninodermata, the class of sea urchins,
and Asterozao or starfish; all of which evolved
millions of years ago and continue to exist today
as examples of extraordinary genetic endurance.

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FIRST THERE WERE THE WATERS

2002 / MARCH

The sea creatures whose diversity is reminiscent
of the infinity of the university are a remarkable
component of life and dreams. Who can remain
unaffected by the mysterious beauty of a starfish
or sea anemone?
The sea is indeed life itself, with its swings
of mood from blue calm to angry waves of steel
grey, its smell and taste, breadth and depth,
and the strange variety of creatures who inhabit
those depths.
First were the waters...